Flashbacks: Senior footballers v Kildare

Wed, 5th June 2019

Dublin senior footballers face Kildare in this Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final at Croke Park (4.0) it forms part of a double-header with the semi-final clash of Meath and Laois (2.0).

Sunday's clash with be the 54th SFC meeting of the Dubs and the Lilywhites with the men from the capital having prevailed on 35 occasions, five draws, 13 Kildare victories.

They last met in the Championship in the 2017 provincial decider, a game the Dubs won 2-23 to 1-17 to win their seventh Leinster SFC title in-a-row.

More recently the counties have collided in the opening round of the 2018 FL Division 1,

Here we look back at the two most recent encounters between Dublin and Kildare.

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2017 LEINSTER SFC FINAL

SUNDAY, JULY 16: Croke Park

DUBLIN 2-23 KILDARE 1-17

This Dublin team keeps on rewriting history when securing the county’s seventh Leinster SFC title in-a-row for the first time with this provincial decider victory over Kildare at Croke Park.

The crowd of 66,734 were treated to an intense battle that started at break-neck pace.

The early moments contained plenty of decisive moments as the Dubs stole an early march on their way to victory.

Daniel Flynn had pointed for the Lilywhites before Tommy Moolick missed a gilt-edged goal opportunity and his side quickly paid the price.

Points from Paul Mannion, Ciarán Kilkenny, off his left, and the outstanding Con O’Callaghan had Dublin 0-3 to 0-1 in front before they struck for two goals in quick succession.

A great handpass from Kilkenny found Dean Rock strolling through the heart of the Kildare defence and his finish was ruthless.

A minute later James McCarthy fired to the net, after dove-tailing with Con, before an O’Callaghan point, following a brilliantly time shoulder by James McCarthy on Daniel Flynn at the other end, had Jim Gavin’s men 2-4 to 0-1 clear by the 17^th minute.

Dean Rock was black-carded in the 24^th minute but his replacement Bernard Brogan enjoyed a superb afternoon when scoring five points from play.

By the break Kildare had steadied themselves and had cut the deficit to 2-8 to 0-10.

The Dubs restarted well and by the 41^st minute were 2-11 to 0-11 clear following points from an O’Callaghan free, for a foul on Philly McMahon, Paddy Andrews, following great defence by Jack McCaffrey, and Bernard Brogan, again with McCaffrey to the fore.

Kildare though were still going strong but spurned another great goal opportunity when marauding forward Daniel Flynn was denied by Stephen Cluxton.

Dublin kept Kildare at arm’s length to the finish and could have had a third goal but ref Anthony Nolan whistled back for a free as Paul Mannion was clipping the ball to the net.

Victory completed the treble of provincial football championships for Dublin at senior, under-21 and minor level while for captain Stephen Cluxton he joined Kerry’s Marc and Tomás O Sé as the most ‘capped’ players at senior football intercounty championship level with his 88^th appearance.

SCORERS - Dublin: C O’Callaghan 0-12 (0-6f), B Brogan 0-5, D Rock, J McCarthy 1-0 each, C Kilkenny 0-2, P Mannion, P Andrews, S Carthy, B Howard 0-1 each. Kildare: P Brophy 1-3 (0-1f), K Feely 0-5 (0-4f), D Flynn, C McNally 0-2 each, K Cribbin, J Byrne, D Slattery, N Kelly, F Dowling 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P McMahon, C O’Sullivan, M Fitzsimons; E Lowndes, J Small, J McCaffrey; J McCarthy, B Fenton; N Scully, C Kilkenny, C O’Callaghan; P Andrews, P Mannion, D Rock. Subs: B Brogan for Rock (24, black card), S Carthy for Scully (47), D Daly for McMahon (49), K McManamon for Andrews (52), D Byrne for O’Sullivan (59), B Howard for Fenton (67).

KILDARE: M Donnellan; M O’Grady, D Hyland, O Lyons; J Byrne, E Doyle, K Cribbin; K Feely, T Moolick; D Slattery, N Kelly, F Conway; C McNally, D Flynn, P Brophy. Subs: P Cribbin for Conway (44), F Dowling for Moolick (49), P Kelly for Doyle (52), B McCormack for McNally (57), E Bolton for Byrne (63), E Callaghan for Feely (BC 64).

REF: A Nolan (Wicklow).

ATTENDANCE: 66,734.

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2018 FL DIVISION 1 - ROUND 1

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27: Croke Park

DUBLIN 2-17 KILDARE 2-10

A superb opening to the second half saw Dublin turn a two-point deficit into a strong match-winning position in this NFL1 clash with Leinster rivals Kildare at Croke Park.

A first half goal from Luke Flynn helped Kildare to a 1-6 to 0-7 as Dublin looked a little off the pace in the early stages but the second half was a different tale. Kildare could have lead by more but squandered a good few chances.

However, with 14 minutes of the restart Dublin had tallied 2-5 without reply as they hit the turbo button to burn off the Lilywhite challenge.

In the first half Dublin were a bit ponderous as Kildare got plenty of bodies back to clog up the scoring zone, however, in the second period Dublin played the game at a higher tempo and their use of possession was more accurate.

Dublin, in fact, could have scored more with Niall Scully and Bernard Brogan missing goal chances, and Dean Rock skewing wide a follow-up chance after Bernard's goal attempt was saved by keeper Mark Donnellan.

The experienced St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh forward more than made amends with some clever assists as Dublin put together some sparkling moves.

The first of these Brogan flicked the ball into the path of the in-rushing Dean Rock who angled his shot low to the far corner of the net.

From the next kickout Dublin went on the attack again and Brogan released the marauding Brian Fenton who made no mistake.

Dublin's confidence was high now and several players got in on the scoring act with ColmBasquel (0-3) and Brian Howard (0-2) contributing well to Dublin's display as the Dubs ran out easy winners despite Daniel Flynn's brilliantly taken late goal.

"We are up and running and we will take that result," said Dublin manager Jim Gavin.

"We are back training two weeks now. We were opened up a little bit and not as controlled as we would like to be.

"Our hand-passing, kick-passing and the fundamentals of our game weren’t what they should have been, I wouldn’t use the two weeks as an excuse, we just need to go after that now.

"We took some great shots and we were very clinical but how we closed out the game wouldn’t be to our standards that’s a credit to Kildare."

SCORERS - Dublin: B Fenton 1-3, D Rock 1-2 (0-2f), C Basquel 0-3, C Kilkenny, N Scully, B Howard 0-2 each, B Brogan, J Small, K McManamon 0-1 each. Kildare: D Flynn 1-2, L Flynn 1-0, E Callaghan 0-3 (0-3f), K Feely 0-2 (0-2f), N Flynn (0-1f), P Cribbin, M Donnellan (0-1f) 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, D Byrne, D Daly; J Cooper, J McCarthy, J Small; B Fenton, MD Macauley; N Scully, C Kilkenny, B Howard; C Basquel, D Rock, B Brogan. Subs: K McManamon for Macauley (46), E Lowndes for Cooper (51), P Mannion for Rock (55), P McMahon for Fitzsimons (55), C O'Shea for Daly (59), P Andrews for Brogan (60).

KILDARE: M Donnellan; D Hyland, M O'Grady, P Kelly; J Byrne, E Doyle, C O'Donoghue; K Feely, L Flynn; F Conway, C Healy, P Cribbin; N Flynn, D Flynn, C McNally. Subs: D Slattery for N Flynn (inj, 5), N Kelly for Healy (bc, 20), T Moolick for Conway (51), B McCormack for L Flynn (56), E Callaghan for Feely (61), M Hyland for P Kelly (61).

REF: C Lane (Cork).

ATT: 26,027.

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LAST TEN CHAMPIONSHIP CLASHES

2017: Dublin 2-23 Kildare 2-10 (Leinster final)

2015: Dublin 5-18 Kildare 0-14 (Leinster semi-final)

2013: Dublin 4-16 Kildare 1-9 (Leinster semi-final)

2011: Dublin 1-12 Kildare 1-11 (Leinster semi-final)

2009: Dublin 2-15 Kildare 0-18 (Leinster final)

2002: Dublin 2-13 Kildare 2-11 (Leinster final)

2000: Kildare 2-11 Dublin 0-12 (Leinster final replay)

2000: Dublin 0-14 Kildare 0-14 (Leinster final)